This past couple of months I’ve been really getting into Japanese cars. Not the usual fare, mind you, but the really odd ones that are not commonly seen unless you’re either in Japan or on another country with lax import restrictions or particularly shade importers (I’m in the latter category). So I thought about sharing some of the ones I’ve found particularly interesting. First up on the list are two retro-styled Toyotas that took the concept of “retro” and took it to its logical extreme. Let’s start with the ugliest of the two, shall we?

Those of you who read my contributions to CC (Thank you all very much, I appreciate your readership) will know that I am very much a fan of the retro craze that took the automotive world by storm in the ‘90s. It brought all manner of strange reinterpretations of concepts that had been confined to the pages of history, justified or otherwise. Most of these concepts seemed to go to cars you’d see in the ‘50s and ‘60s, but the Classic was looking back to the Genesis. The Genesis of Toyota at least.

In 1936, after a year of refining and development, Toyota released their first ever production vehicle, the AA. Its design was very much a product of evolving automotive design and streamlining (Paul wrote a very comprehensive history of automotive aerodynamics that you can read here). You may also noticed it borrows heavily from the Chrysler Airflow. Toyota has made no qualms about that last bit either. The Toyota Automobile Museum has a 1934 DeSoto Airflow on permanent display with a plaque that says that “…The chassis and body design of the De Soto Airflow greatly influenced the development of the Toyoda Model AA.” It’s probably not the same Airflow purchased and disassembled by Kiichiro Toyoda for research while developing his concept.

1,404 AA’s were sold from 1936 to 1943, all of them with a 3.9-liter straight six engine developing 62 horsepower and mated to a three-on-the-tree manual gearbox. It doesn’t sound like much, but it was from this small number of cars that the corporate giant we know today evolved. And 50 years later, in 1986, Toyota was gearing up to celebrate the anniversary of that historic vehicle. But they ran into a couple of problems.

For starters, in 1986 there wasn’t a single surviving AA to be found. There weren’t even any complete plans of the thing. So the plan of using one for the ceremony ended up being an impossible task. From incomplete plans that were made at various stages of development, Toyota managed to build a replica that they believed was as close to the AA as you could get.

So after all that trouble, of course, an original AA was found. In 2008 a single survivor was found in, of all places, Russia. To say that it has seen better days would be putting it mildly. Can you imagine the stories that this car could tell if it could speak? Currently it resides unrestored in a museum in the Netherlands.

Our subject car was built a decade later than the AA replica to commemorate the 60th anniversary of Toyota. The classic was based out of the Hilux platform and was powered by a 2.0-liter four producing 84 horsepower and sending them to the rear wheels via a 4-speed automatic.

Unfortunately, even as a fan of retro styling I find this car deeply unpleasant. It may be the fact that the grille is too small for its intended purpose or that the body is too ‘blobby’ for the design it’s trying to convey. I think mostly it’s the fact that the body is too wide for the chassis its built on and the wheel arches do nothing but emphasize that, to the point where the end result ends up looking like those weird Canada-only Narrow-track Pontiacs. It’s a compromised design, is what I’m trying to say. Really the best angle is watching it straight from the back, where it actually pulls of the retro design quite well

The interior benefited from a wooden steering wheel, lashings of wood wherever they could nail it and leather seats. But it wouldn’t have made a lot of sense to produce an entire bespoke dashboard so those of us that have spent a lot of time inside a base-model Toyota Truck/SUV/Bus from the ‘90s will be instantly familiar with that dashboard.

The Classic was never intended to be a big seller, only 100 models were sold for the equivalent of $75,000 in the middle of Japan’s lost decade. Somehow they all found buyers. Even so, I was able to find three of them for sale in a Japanese auction site with price ranging from twenty-three to thirty-seven thousand dollars. Rare doesn’t equal desirable, it seems. Even with all its problems though, I find the fact that Toyota went to all the trouble of designing and building a homage to their first vehicle extremely remarkable. And Toyota wouldn’t stop at the Classic for their retro kicks. Fortunately their second attempt at it was much prettier, better thought out and (to me at least) infinitely more desirable.

73 Comments

I’ve never been a fan of “retro” cars in general. Mostly because there are plenty of the original “old-school” cars out there, even among the rarest of them. If you want to bring the old up to the 21st Century, fine. That can be done. It’s been done for years. One thing I like about this modern version of the Toyota AA is that it’s based on the Hilux pickup chassis. Its conventional layout of front-engine, rear-wheel drive, keeps it old-school in terms of drivetrain layout, while bringing the rest of the car up to the 21st century. I like that. 🙂

Usually in the countries with minimum regards of history, it’s hard to keep any survivals ( I mean China, Japan and Korea, probably Singapore too. Coming to automotive history preservation, those countries even fall behind Iran. And apart from automotive history, it’s not easy to keep too many things intact altogether there ) and usually they didn’t realize the problem before trying to dig up some authentic history, and then they found everything is lost ( and they will make up something ridiculous anyway )

It was a tough time for Japan. I like to believe that someone actually has an AA somewhere but doesn’t realize it. Like the people with 2CV prototypes on the roofs of their homes in France some ages ago.

Same story in Israel. Cars just got driven to the ground and often scrapped. Also there was not much of car culture until recently so much was lost. One funny aspect of this is that nowadays you can import vehicles older than 30 years as collectors vehicles and all of a sudden they have lots of 70-80s Corvettes, Lincolns, Caddies etc. etc. – all cars which at the time were imported into Israel in single figures. Far fewer 50s and 60s Chryslers/Dodges/Plymouth even though they sold better: they do not fit the conventional “desireable” mould…

I remember the Toyota FJ Cruiser. Except for the front end of the vehicle, which I felt had elements of the original Land Cruiser FJ, from the windscreen rearward, it looked nothing like the original Land Cruiser FJ.

I thought the PT Cruiser was a great way to camouflage a Neon station wagon. It brought back the size of the original minivans, clothed as a 1937 Ford sedan. It was such a good idea, GM followed with it’s miniature 1949 Chevy Suburban, the Chevy HHR. Again, a clever way to camouflage the Cobalt station wagon.

Both of these cars had their share of special editions and go-fast specials, something that would have never happened if they would have worn regular minivan bodies instead.

One of my poor coworkers had her husband trade in her 2000 Corvette convertible on a 2007 HHR when she wasn’t looking. This led to endless ribbing on “how quick is it” and “how does it handle”. We could never figure out how to pronounce HHR to be most annoying though. We settled on a breathy “hherrr”. There has to be a more obnoxious way…

I remember when retro was fashionable in the late ’90s, apart from some retro-futuristic cars rather well finished ( Plymouth Prowler for example, as everyone can still easily tell it’s a new car with plenty of retro styling ) there were quite handful of retros from Japan, but all of them has the looking: Either it looks like a cheap replica, or it looks like a deformed old car. It doesn’t have the gravity of the styling coming to history revival. ( finally Toyota fixed one by making retro Land Cruiser )

You’re missing the point. it’s a cultural thing, and the Japanese retro-wave was…folks having fun; it’s all playful, and not to be taken seriously. These cars are not pretending to be faithful reproductions of the originals.

There’s a reason they never tried importing them to the US…they knew how you (and most others) would feel about them. 🙂

I really liked the retro craze of the 90s, I like this Toyota Classic, and also find the many retro Japanese cars and kits very cool. Why having a Nissan March, if you can drive a mini Jaguar Mitsuoka? Toyota also made a car called the Origin, that looked like the original Toyopet Crown.

Also, very interesting to read the story of the AA, specially of that survivor found in Russia. Maybe it was from the Japanese forces in Manchuria? And ended up in Russia as a war trophy.

In a world supposedly hungry for something besides look alike cars, I would think that more people would like this, I know I do.

It was really neat when the market embraced the PT Cruiser and a few others, making the streets a bit more interesting. But, it seems that the auto world is about as conformist as ever with just about everybody building their version of the Hyundai Sonata that was introduced several years ago – in roughly four colors.

That has occurred to me as well. But, most cars fade off over time if left unchanged. If Chevy were to sell a reproduction ’57 Bel-Air for some years, follow up with a reproduction ’64 Malibu convertible. The possibilities are not quite endless, but it comes close. Wouldn’t it be just a stunner to see a reasonably priced, modern and much safer classic in Chevy showrooms? I’m aware of the Camaro, but it isn’t so much retro or reproduction as it is evolutionary Camaro styling, much like the Corvette has been since 1968, and the Mustang since 1995.

At least Toyota got the fenders right on these: all removable with a welt between body and fender to protect from rust and the elements.

Never understood the VW & PT with their “fenders” which should have had the capability to be removed from all four corners and replaced and separate from the rest of the car, rather than welded. Like the bug and so many cars of the 30s and 40s. Some period practicality and simplicity would have been welcome.

The Toyota AA that was found in East Russia (near Japan) was found by Dutch Toyota distributor and famous car collector Mr Evert Louwman.
One of his ‘men’ found the car by chance and it took a lot of inventive thougths and ideas to get the car out of Russia, they even smuggled part of the car out I believe.

I like many retro designs – we own a New Beetle – but this doesn’t look retro, it looks like a kit car awkwardly adapted to fit on modern running gear. And the tall greenhouse is just WRONG. But a fascinating story, that provides more insight into a non-US Toyota that I had never heard of. Thanks Gerardo!

I’ve never been a fan of the “New” Beetle. Although Volkswagen was trying to resurrect the Beetle with something new and modern, they didn’t do a very good job. Although its body looked like a modern VW Beetle, the rest of the car is pure Jetta/Golf.

The Concept One (name of New Beetle concept car) was based on smaller Polo chassis, which lent better proportion and design harmony.

However, Volkswagen never engineered Polo for the US and Canadian markets in the first place. The shortcut fix was to stretch the concept car as to fit larger Golf/Jetta platform. Henceforth, odd proportion and poor design harmony.

I believe the second generation fixed lot of design problem. Or maybe not.

Thanks for the very interesting article Gerardo. It’s always great to learn something new. Not only the dashboard and chassis come from the Hilux, it looks to me that the doors and the windshield are from the Hilux too (rear doors from a crew cab). That might explain the mismatch of the greenhouse with the rest of the car. And the narrow-looking track!
One thing is eventually even more remarkable: this is perhaps the most sturdy and durable (maybe indestructible) retro design car of the world, with so many Hilux parts!

I agree. Sometimes you have to mix a little modern and vintage to make something new and contemporary. I’ve seen lots of cars in the past few years like that. Some cars look awesome, while others look awful. But they all look unique. I’d love to see someone bring back the Corvair. A modern version of the Corvair, with the engine over the rear wheels, but with a different suspension, a water-cooled Porsche Boxer engine.

Porsche already makes this, it called a Cayman 🙂 I can go either way on the nostalgia mobiles, some of them are okay and some of them are just hideous. To reply to something upthread, I would not consider a PT Cruiser as being equivalent to the original minivans. I have considerable time in both the PT Cruiser and gen I Chrysler minivans and the Cruiser is much smaller. My wife had a PT Cruiser GT (with the high output turbo) as her daily driver for several years back in the early oughts. Not much room in that puppy but it was one entertaining car to drive; you definitely wanted to make sure the front wheels were pointed straight ahead if you went to the whip.

I’ve never been a fan of PT Cruisers myself. I’ve never owned one, nor have I driven one. But I have ridden one as a passenger, and while it was roomy, I didn’t find the seats themselves very comfortable.

Sarcasmo

Posted August 4, 2015 at 4:35 PM

Always hated the PT Cruiser and the HHR, they scream granny or mommy mobile… Nothing cool about them. Good riddance.

On top of that, they were FWD. Double lame.

As far as a Toyota retro, never mind the AA… Bring us a 2000GT retro. 😉

Jason

Posted August 4, 2015 at 4:49 PM

Between its appearance, and the fact that it’s fwd, both are their downfall. And I’ve always found the Chevy HHR to be hideous, at best. I don’t know what, if anything, GM were thinking when they designed that ugly beast.

Sarcasmo

Posted August 4, 2015 at 5:11 PM

I know right…

Just like Chrysler wanted to make a retro “hot rod”, by making the Plymouth Prowler.

Badass looking car… but they put a 6 cylinder in it?? Are you kidding me?

That should’ve been a V8 Hemi. Go BIG or stay home, is what I say.

Jason

Posted August 4, 2015 at 5:14 PM

My feeling exactly! I also like the Prowler, but they should’ve put a more powerful engine than they did.

I had rented a bunch of PTs back in the day, and found some similarities between them and the original minivan. They’re roughly the size of the original Mopar minivans, maybe a tad smaller, but left me with fond memories of the one I drove.

Another car I would have liked to own was one of the PTs, but my wife didn’t like the seats or the seating position. I encountered these same issues when shopping HHRs, too. I think it has to do with the design of the retro interiors, more than anything else.

Johannes Dutch

Posted August 3, 2015 at 3:35 PM

Well GZ, I bet you never rented one of these ! Clatter along, baby.

Plenty of PT Cruisers were sold here in its days.

geozinger

Posted August 3, 2015 at 3:42 PM

Hallo Johannes!

You are correct, I’ve never even seen a CRD PT in real life.

The vast majority of the rental ones I ever got had the 2,0L benzin motor. Sometimes I would get lucky and get one of the 2,4L ones, but that wasn’t often.

Johannes Dutch

Posted August 3, 2015 at 3:47 PM

The 2.2 CRD is a Mercedes engine. A bit remarkable was that they put a 2.0 liter Volkswagen diesel in the Avenger and Caliber back then. Hence, the 2.0 CRD.

geozinger

Posted August 3, 2015 at 6:02 PM

Well, the whole Daimler-Chrysler merger was a mess. Not surprisingly, so were the cars. But I saw a number of German firms that were tuning the turbo diesel Caliber. They never would have sold over here, but I’m sure they must have been interesting cars…

It’s weird of me to say this, but…I kind of like it. It’s audacious, the details are nicely finished (and as close to the original as can be), and the proportions make it look kind of like a London taxi. Certainly more credible a “retro” attempt than any PT Cruiser or New Beetle would be.

Yep a very ordinary effort it only vaguely resembles the AA but that could be what they aimed for, Toyota released a new car for the 1941 MY they cloned a 41 Chevy hostilities that broke out that year put paid to any production reaching customers but they had changed their minds about Chryslers and early Landcruisers used a cloned Blueflame 6.

There’s something kind of amusing about this particular car; I don’t know what it is, but it makes me smile. I should note I never quite got the whole Japanese retro-car vibe, starting with the Nissan S-Cargo, the Pao and a couple of others I’m forgetting right at the moment. The Mitsuokos are just craziness embodied in steel and plastic, although you could rightly say that about a Zimmer, too.

I tend to take these retro cars on a case by case basis, some I like, some not so much. I can’t really explain why, but some I really understand and others seem to lose me. But now that I’m in this mode of thinking, I’m going back to searching for HHR turbos on eBay…

This must have been one of the last body-on-frame cars with a torsion-bar front suspension (I assume that’s what it had?). I’m wondering if it used leaf springs at the back or coils like the Surf/4Runner?

It’s funny that they used the basic instrument cluster from the base and Deluxe pickups with automatic transmission instead of the more elaborate one with full instrumentation from a Deluxe with the manual transmission, any SR-5 pickup or 4Runner models. I guess that a cluster with a tach didn’t look retro enough for a car that’s supposed to look like it’s from 1936… But then, shouldn’t they have used a manual gearbox too?!

The high roof and low belt line makes it look like some funeral cars.

The large outside mirrors look a bit big too! I understand they mostly used their existing parts to create this and maybe they found that the tall 4Runner/Surf mirrors would look less out of proportion with the tall glass and high roof

I’m wondering why Toyota had so many styles of outside mirrors available on it’s pickups and Surf/4Runner models back then. The picture below shows some of them.

The Euro-market and Japanese Hilux pickups and the Hilux Surf as well as the north-american 4Runners had the same as those on the Classic (or very similar ones) available as black or chrome/black (shown on the lower right corner of the picture).
Pickups had another style mounted on the door skin in chrome or black if they had the vent window option (higher left corner).
Even without the vent windows, they didn’t have the same mirrors as the 4Runners or Euro/Japanese Hilux pickups. In some south american countries, the Hilux SW4 (4Runner/Surf equivalent) also had the mirrors like those on the US/Canadian SR5 pickups equipped with power mirrors but without vent windows (higher right).

The US/Canadian pickups without vent windows had smaller mirrors (in black or chrome) if they were not power operated (lower left).

The Figaro is the one retro style car, I would like to own! I do like the way the retro beetle has evolved or devolved to look like the earlier Beetles, the not so smiley and cute pre-67’s. The Toyota Classic reminds me of a British funeral car with those tall windows and somber colors.

I’ve never seen a Nissan Figaro in person. I’ve seen pictures of the car, but I’ve never seen one. The first time I saw one, I thought it was hideous looking. The more I saw the car, the more I liked it.

Nice article – as an expat who has lived here in Tokyo for the past 12 years, I was aware of this car, but have yet to see on on the road here in Tokyo – as you mention, they are pretty rare. But the MItsuoka’s are fairly popular, I see them frequently.

From Aug 14 to Jun 15, Toyota made a short run of it’s popular 1980s 70 series Land Cruiser for the Japan market – I would have loved to have bought one…….

Never seen one of these here in NZ, but it wouldn’t surprise me if there were 1 or 2 here. Despite the horrific ugliness, I do find the idea interesting, so bought the sales brochure earlier this year. It was just as interesting as the real thing.